Guardian: Why Labour opposes this fanatical faith in shale gas

There are two fundamental principles that have to underpin any debate about shale gas development in the UK. The first is that fracking cannot go ahead without proper environmental safeguards in place. The second is that the development of shale gas, cannot come at the expense of meeting our legally binding obligation to avoid dangerous climate change.

No sensible government can govern in these challenging times without putting climate change at the core of what they do. That’s why Labour has committed to a 2030 decarbonisation target for our power sector and pledged to make climate adaptation a national priority to protect the country from extreme weather caused by climate change. David Cameron however has gone from promising to lead the “greenest government ever”, to ditching the “green crap”. Now he is pursuing shale gas development at any cost. Labour will take a different approach.
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